What did you do with your flock today?

[TropicalBabies]

He is definitely a smart boy! Using a distraction technique on the aggressor is just genius!
I sometimes wish mine would intervene more at times but having seen the way Gladys stomps on them (It's not just that they're little, she did it to Leo and Matilda too), I'm not surprised they won't.

I love reading a comment, realizing I have missed a whole page, again.

 

[ChicksnMore]

The fire ants were like a plague this year, everywhere except the hoop coop. They even came in the house, were in my dresser drawers and I was bitten after putting on a t-shirt!

When I went to bed they were under the blanket, all over the sheets. I sprinkled talcum powder wherever I saw the ants, (NOT corn starch) and they left. I figured out that they were coming in through the AC/heat pump.

I'm an organic gardener, I never use poison, but I knew I needed something that worked, to make a dent in the fire ant population. I researched online and discovered something referred to as the Texas Two-step. The first ingredient is granules that the ants take to feed the queen. It kills her. The granules also inhibit growth, so keep the larvae from maturing. A couple weeks after sprinkling that around the yard I followed up with an actual pesticide that you sprinkle on the mounds. I counted 55 mounds in my backyard!

And now there are no fire ant mounds in my yard.

What kind of granules? I'm anti poison when ever I can too... poison kills way more than what you're trying to.
The fire ants here seem to like building under my planters so no mounds...I think they use the planters in place of mounds. It makes their homes awfully hard to spot.

Just finished reading about the two-step. Sounds good. Sounds like the moisture in my garden is what attracted them to begin with. But can't live with out my garden. Thanks for the info!

 

[ChicksnMore]

OMG…I just gave a chicken mouth to mouth…he had started convulsing and then became cyanotic. He’d been breathing funny so I’d brought him over to take a look at him and maybe 20 mins later it started. I was certain he’d died, but his eye opened a bit and so I went into action while Aria stood over me sobbing. I told her to snap out of it and help me try to save him—so she ran and grabbed qtips and I started by swabbing his throat to try pulling out mucous I could see and then opened his beak and started blowing air in. His face began to redden and I could feel his body responding so I kept at it while Aria brought me VetRx, Terramycin, Monistat, and a syringe and the Tylan. Basically the kitchen sink approach. He’s definitely struggling to breathe but his face is normal again, he’s calm enough to sit down and close his eyes and breathe a bit less labored. I injected the Tylan, made him swallow some VetRx and swabbed all around his beak, and then made him swallow some monistat. He’s resting now. Yikes, that was scary.

So glad you were there to help him! I've done that once because my then toddler youngest accidentally drowned a chick while I was showering one day. Then she bawled and cried like the world was ending, so I gave it mouth to mouth and it worked. Definitely something I never thought I'd do.
How's your birds doing now? Any idea what caused it?

 

[ChicksnMore]

Thanks! It was quite a scary experience He got a second dose of Tylan just now, seems to be feeling much better now. He’s getting some snuggle time. Fingers crossed

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He sure looks bright eyed!

 

[PopoMyers]

What kind of granules? I'm anti poison when ever I can too... poison kills way more than what you're trying to.
The fire ants here seem to like building under my planters so no mounds...I think they use the planters in place of mounds. It makes their homes awfully hard to spot.

Just finished reading about the two-step. Sounds good. Sounds like the moisture in my garden is what attracted them to begin with. But can't live with out my garden. Thanks for the info!

There was a granule back years ago that worked like a charm, but is no longer made called Diazinon. My neighbor's son gave me some he had found while getting his mom's house cleaned out. Still works.

 

[TropicalBabies]

What kind of granules? I'm anti poison when ever I can too... poison kills way more than what you're trying to.
The fire ants here seem to like building under my planters so no mounds...I think they use the planters in place of mounds. It makes their homes awfully hard to spot.

Just finished reading about the two-step. Sounds good. Sounds like the moisture in my garden is what attracted them to begin with. But can't live with out my garden. Thanks for the info!

We have a VERY close cousin to fire ants in our pasture. I use the Spectacide or Amdro fire ant granular sold at HD. BUT, I only drop a pinch of grains directly down each hole. It is a yummy-to-them bait that they feed off of and die. It works great and does not take a lot. I do have to work at it as they have breather holes, and I have to get them all. Follow the trails.
I notice that they are active b4 a rain but then close up their holes. After a rain, they have to dig themselves out so I look for fresh and unusual grains of sand, grains they have excavated from deeper down. Also, where grass greens up from unearthed nutrients.

 

[TropicalBabies]

Well yesterday, I obviously had another lapse in judgment.

Meet Waihona (clipped ear ). Sibling of Makane

I'll see what I can do for (her? Better check paperwork) the kitty. Maybe friendly it up enough to keep it from life on the streets ?
All kttens, except for Tally,

are all post surgery, happy to be home and doing well watching Tally climb the soursop tree and brooder, storage shed, condo, me, the shop, avo tree...

 

[Insnesnakos]

Today I watched all my birds bathe but they got dust everywhere!

 

[fuzzi]

I forgot the excitement of the day yesterday. Near the White Giant coop my wife found a dead possum. I wish she had told me before dark. Now I wonder if it was just playing possum on her waiting for her to go on about her business and then wandering around looking for an easy meal.

Back in the 1990s we had a small flock of bantams, with bird netting over the run. One morning my young son came to me and said there was a rat in the netting. It was actually a young opossum that had tried to get through, caught and hanged itself in the netting. I had to cut him out of the net.

 

[fuzzi]

I love reading a comment, realizing I have missed a whole page, again.

I think we've all done that...